[199-1] HANS CHRISTOPHER HEEBNER[E 201], b Dec. 5, 1718; d Jan. 30, 1804; s Christopher and Maria (Yeakel) Heebner [199]; m Oct. 21, 1746, by Rev. Balthasar Hoffman to BARBARA SCHULTZ [E 153], b July 5, 1720; d Jan. 26, 1786; dau Balthasar and Susanna (Dietrich) Schultz {149]. He was a farmer and lived in Worcester Twp., Pa. Place of burial in the private cemetery on the farm now (1920) owned and occupied by Oswin Kriebel, formerly known as the ‘“‘William G. Freed”’ farm.
Children (6):
Hans Christopher Heebner came to Pa. in 1737 with his parents. He must have settled in Frederick Twp., for we find that in June, 1756, Hans Christopher Heebner, “‘yeoman’”’ of Frederick Twp., bought from John Johnson in Worcester Twp., 185 acres of land. [Véd. Homes and Burial Places.] Prior to this purchase he had been renting the farm of his uncle, Balthasar Heydrick.
Hans Christopher Heebner was for thirty years an active transcriber and compiler of hymns and other compositions. He wrote three folio volumes of hymns—1758, 1759, 1765. He also wrote three massive collections of sermons in folio, and numerous quartos of hymns and homilies. In the quantity of manuscript produced, he leads all the transcribers of hymns of his time in America, with the possible exception of Balzer Hoffman. He also copied the later rearrangement of the Weiss Hymn-book to which he added one hundred and twenty hymns. From 1760 to 1780 he was one of the prominent leaders in the movement for the organization of the Schwenkfelder Society, and at his home many meetings of worship were held on Sundays before the Church edifices were erected.
We also find him a contributor to the fund to establish the Sechwenkfelder schools. He lived on the farm in Worcester Twp., Montg. Co., Pa., near Cedars, occupied (1920) by Oswin Kriebel [25-860], and is buried in the private burial plot on that farm, as previously stated.